Cleveland
An RNC official said Thursday morning the Republican National Convention’s Rules Committee would need to recess because of a “broken printer.” The real reason for the recess, which was later extended until 1:00 p.m., was that RNC chairman Reince Priebus was meeting with anti-Trump delegates, including Utah senator Mike Lee and Kendal Unruh of Colorado, leader of the “Free the Delegates” effort to unbind delegates and allow them to vote their consciences on the first ballot electing the GOP presidential nominee.
If Unruh is able to get 28 of the Rules Committee’s 112 delegates to vote for a conscience clause, the question will be put before the entire convention. Although it remains unclear precisely what’s being decided in the meeting, a couple opponents of conscience-voting left the meeting pleased.
Pro-Trump delegate Solomon Yue left the meeting saying that he had “no comment” but the delegates were making a “good decision.”
Virginia delegate Morton Blackwell, a staunch opponent of conscience voting, left the meeting similarly pleased. “”I’m giving you a pleasant smile on my face,” Blackwell told reporters as he left the meeting. “Read into that what you please.”
Rules Committee sources tell National Review‘s Tim Alberta that Virginia delegate and Cruz ally Ken Cuccinelli is “open to brokering an agreement with Priebus under which he wins some modifications [to the party’s nominating process in the future] in exchange for backing down from the anti-Trump measures.”
Update: Kendal Unruh tells BuzzFeed‘s Rosie Gray the meeting “has nothing to do with unbinding. Or the conscience clause.”
Update II: Rules Committee chairwoman Enid Mickelson reconvened the meeting right around 1:00 p.m. “Obviously, we did not stand adjourned for three hours because of a jammed copier,” she said. “We were approached by a number of members from different groups, proposing different amendments who asked if they could have a period of time to try to work out their differences in hopes that we could then expedite the work of the committee. I don’t know what they have or have not decided.”
